Thursday, April 28, 2011

A reader from Amsterdam writes about his Cinetica "Giotto" (see original brochure and other photos here) in Amsterdam. He writes:

"It was a nice surprised to find the Cinetica Giotto on your site. In 1989, I bought my Giotto in Amsterdam and even though in the meantime I have had many different bikes, I never could sell this one, so it is still in my possession. My serial number is 20.

Up till now I have only once spotted another one in Holland. In Italy, where I lived in 2003 and 2004 I have never seen one nor during the years I rode Gran Fondo's in Italy.

One year ago I decided it was a shame to have such a beautiful bike hanging in the garage and never use it, that I transformed it to a city bike. As I am riding it more frequently now, a lot of people tell me they have never seen a nicer bike than this Giotto, so I am still very happy with it. I only have little problems with the paint job, since one year the bike has a littleosmosis. Beside this bike I have 3 other racing bikes, including a Pinarello and an Italian custom titanium bike.

Please find herewith a recent picture of the Cinetica Giotto made over!"

The origin of GINO on the frame? "I bought the bike in Amsterdam at a bike shop named Cycles Gino (Bartali). After two years the owner of the shop asked me if he could put my bike on display during winter time and use it for exhibitions. He wanted to put some stickers on the bike with the name of his shop and offered me a set of wheels in return, which I did and I never took them off, so that is the story after."

Click on photos to enlarge.

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

Monday, April 25, 2011

"Last year Cinelli designed and released the Gazzetta, a reasonably priced all-purpose track frame. The design priorities were straight-forward and decisive and the result was a product which distinguished itself from everything else in its category.

This year we have expanded the Gazzetta range with the introduction of a road model which maintains the philosophy of the original track model: the Gazzetta della Strada.

The Gazzetta della Strada is based on the 50s heroic Italian steel road bike and inspired by a sophisticated genre of urban riding: it maintains all the same proprietary elements of the original track model including the custom Columbus tubeset, rear brake bridge, seat post collar and segmented fork crown design while differentiating itself in the following regards:

•Racing road bike geometries from a time when road racing still meant, potentially, unsurfaced roads and gravel climbs - giving the contemporary rider stable handling and suitable clearances for half mudguards while maintaining a short enough wheelbase for immediate response in accelerations and all together lively riding experience.

•Rear drop-out eyelets and seat-stay braze on for small packs and mudguards.

•Stainless steel drop-outs and fork tips for extreme durability.

•Matching painted stem for purist Randonneur bike style.

•25mm Vittoria Randonneur tyres for extra-handling confidence at no expense of straightline speed and efficiency.

•Down tube braze-on tabs for down tube shifter compatibility."

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

In the words of Dario Pegoretti as told to Lodovico Pignatti of Cinelli:

"When I first met Cino, he made the immediate impression, as one sometimes does, of being a man of other times. I was just a junior rider at the time, this was in around 1972, and I was riding with the Unione Sportiva Aurola Trento and I showed some amount of promise so they decided to get me a new race bike that year; a Cinelli. Back then I had a Legnano, a good bike but already, in those days, a little below a Cinelli. So Vittorio Brocaldo, the director of the association, took me by car from Trento to the old Cinelli headquarters at Via dei Folli, Milano to get fitted.

Now the first thing I remember noticing walking in was the mountains and mountains of handlebars all intertwined amongst each other; the business of course, then, being focused on handlebars, stems and saddles. Of course I was very nervous, Cino was there to take my measurements, an imposing figure, very smartly dressed, seemingly half Milanese half English gentlemen with a calm authority; nervous because at that time for cyclists going into via dei Folli was like going on a pilgrimage to see the Madonna; a Cinelli, was, in those days, the most expensive and desirable bicycle available, along with Masi, with a little behind them Colnago, who was still just beginning to come to prominence.

I remember then there was the very great rivalry between Faliero Masi and Cino Cinelli; two very different, very personal styles of building that made a very strong impression compared to other frames of the time; Cinelli you could already have described as a little old fashioned, with his classic round tubes, distinctive fast back seat-stays, three-point lugs, heraldic font and crest, while Masi more modern with his lower ovalised chain stays, pressed tube shapes and seat collar arrangement.

Back then you had what you called “Le Tre C” (the three Cs): Columbus, Cinelli and Clement; that was apex of professional cycling, the finest build money could buy, as well as of course the campagnolo gruppo. When my bicycle arrived, grey paint and red decals with black outlines, it was built up in this classic style, but that is not what I remember most, what I have never forgotten is the distinctive smell of the factory; the indescribable smell of some kind of special oil; my bike, when it arrived in Trento, had this same indescribable smell and to this day, for the life of me, I have never found the smell anywhere else.

A few years later, after growing a couple more centimetres, I sold my bike to a famous Italian Olympic figure skater who used to ride as training in the summers and went to see a young frame builder from my parts who was had developed a good reputation: a certain Mario Confente, still in his 20s, working in Montorio, this before he had gone to the States to build for Masi and made his legend. I had him build me a new frame in his already distinctive style, but that is a whole other story…"

I invite you to contribute by sending in photographs of your Cinelli bike, illustrations, personal stories, and articles about Cinelli bikes and components.

Friday, April 1, 2011

We have written a few times about these special bikes (see here, here, and here). The last of these is has a badge that "Cinelli Design, September 1983, n 5". This particular bicycle is now in the collection of Speedbicycles who has been kind enough to allow us to use the photos of it. For the complete collection of photos click here.